Searching files and folders
Searching helps a user to find an item without scanning long lists of files and folders. Search appears in the banner for Information Console users having intermediate‑, advanced‑, and administrator‑level roles.
Information Console supports searching for files or folders within a folder. The scope of a search is limited to a selected folder and its subfolders. To search the entire Encyclopedia volume, start at the top of the folder hierarchy. A file and folder search displays files and folders for which a user has View privilege.
How to use expressions in searches
Search expressions use special characters called operators to find files that match the condition in the expression. For example, Information Console supports using the special character, *, as a wildcard to indicate any variable number of characters before or after a string.
Table 2‑7 lists the operators available to search for folders and files.
Table 2‑7 Operators used to form search expressions
Operator name | Symbol | Usage |
Asterisk | * | Match zero or any number of characters. |
Brackets | [] | Match any character in the set between the brackets. |
Caret | ^ | Match everything not in the bracket set. |
Comma | , | Combine search terms and expressions. |
Exclamation | ! | Match everything NOT equal to the search expression. |
Greater than | > | Match everything greater than, or alphabetically after, the value that follows the operator. |
Hyphen | - | Separates upper and lower limits of the search range. |
Less than | < | Match everything less than, or alphabetically before, the value that follows the operator. |
Number sign | # | Match any single ASCII numeric character [0–9]. |
Question mark | ? | Match any one character. |
Searches include the file-name extension. For example, the following expressions would find the file BIRTcharts5.rptdocument, and other files with similar names:
BIRT*
BIRTcharts*
BIRTcharts5.rptdocument
BIRTcharts#*
BIRTcharts[3-6]*
*5*
The following expressions, however, would not find BIRTcharts5.rptdocument:
BIRTcharts5
*5
The file-name extension is included as part of the name when matching a search expression. The search for “BIRTcharts5” fails because there is not a file or folder named “BIRTcharts5”. The search for *5 fails because the end of the document name is “ts” and not “5”.
Table 2‑8 lists examples of search queries.
Table 2‑8 Example search expressions
Expression | Search result |
[A-E]* | Returns files starting with A, B, C, D, or E |
[AE]* | Returns files starting with A or E |
[^A-E]* | Returns files that do not start with A, B, C, D, or E |
????? | Returns files that have 5 characters in its name |
Model?2010* | Returns files whose name has a single character between Model and 2010 |
*##* | Returns files containing 2 numeric characters anywhere in the name |
BIRT* | Returns files that start with BIRT |
>D | Returns files that have a name starting with D or a letter higher in the alphabet than D |
70 - 90 | Returns files that have a numeric name from 70 up to 90 |
A - C | Returns files starting with A, B, or C |
BIRT*, customer* | Returns files that begin with BIRT or customer |
*.rptdocument | Returns files that have the file-name extension .rptdocument |
*.rptdocument, *.rptdesign | Returns files that have the file-name extension .rptdocument or .rptdesign. |
*document | Returns files whose file-name extension ends with the letters “document” |
Searching for the expression “*document” finds files that finish with the word “document”, such as file.rptdocument and file.cubedocument. A file named April Report Document.rptdesign does not match the because the search includes the file-name extension as the end of the file name.
How to use special characters in searches
If a user wants to find a file name that includes one or more special characters, a backslash (\) must precede each special character in the search expression.
Table 2‑9 lists the special characters that require a backslash before them when used in searches.
Table 2‑9 Special characters in searches that require a backslash
Character name | Symbol | Character name | Symbol |
Ampersand | & | Hyphen | - |
Asterisk | * | Less than sign | < |
Backslash | \ | Number sign | # |
Close square bracket | ] | Open square bracket | [ |
Comma | , | Pipe sign | | |
Exclamation point | ! | Question mark | ? |
Greater than sign | > | Single quotation mark | ‘ |
For example, to search for a file name that includes the characters “user#”, you must type the following search expression:
user\#
If you type user#, the search returns user names that begin with user and end with a number, such as user1 and user2.